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The Unholy Alliance
The Unholy Alliance is an episode from the original series of ThunderCats. Written by Leonard Starr, it originally aired on January 23, 1985. Official summary The Mutants form an unholy alliance with Mumm-Ra and set forth to destroy the ThunderCats. Lion-O uses his mighty Sword of Omens for the first time as he lets loose with his thrilling call: "THUNDER-THUNDER-THUNDER THUNDERCATS ... HO!" A beam of light streaks from the hilt of the sword and projects the image of the roaring cat in the sky for the others to see. The sword grows in length and strength as Lion-O wins in his first encounter with Mumm-Ra who has transformed himself into a fearsome warrior from another age. "Where evil exists, Mumm-Ra lives"! Official moral Lion-O is taught to respect all life and that all living things have as much of a right to life as he does. Those who practice evil do not respect the rights of other creatures nor do they feel mutual obligations among each other. Often their evil has penetrated so deeply that they do not respect even themselves. Lion-O learns in this episode that evil's worst enemy is its own unspeakable face. Growth in morality involves an understanding of reciprocity and equalitarianism. Rather than being self-centered and guided only by an orientation to punishment and obedience, children must be taught to consider the expectancies of others as well. This development is aided by recursive thinking, learning to view the relation of oneself and another from the point of view of the other (Flavell, 1968). Story Now that they are on Third Earth, the ThunderCats search the wreck of their crashed Flagship in order to salvage as much equipment and food rations as they can. Despite much of the electronic gears being damaged in the crash, Panthro is optimistic that there is sufficient Thundrillium for him to construct a ThunderTank. Instead of helping the others, Lion-O heads off into the nearby forest to explore their new home. For his protection, he takes the Sword of Omens and Claw Shield with him as well. Tygra and Cheetara decide to look for an appropriate site to build Cats Lair. While hunting for the ThunderCats as well as a site to erect Castle Plun-Darr, the Mutants come upon an ancient pyramid. Suddenly, fierce lightning starts shooting from the four obelisks surrounding the pyramid, compelling the Mutants to make a hasty landing. A fiery ball of light appears and a voice instructs the Mutants to follow it into the pyramid. They comply, even though Jackalman and Monkian are a bit hesitant. They reach a giant chamber inside the pyramid and a bandaged figure emerges from the sarcophagus located in the center of the chamber. The mummy identifies himself as Mumm-Ra, and proposes that the Mutants join forces with him to procure the Eye of Thundera. Overconfident of their own strength, the Mutants refuse Mumm-Ra's proposal, threatening instead to blast the pyramid to powder using their spaceship's cannons. Mumm-Ra responds to the threat by giving the Mutants a taste of his powers. He makes their parked ship sink completely into the ground. The helpless Mutants reluctantly accept Mumm-Ra's deal and he teleports them to Lion-O's location. The Mutants appear in the forest and immediately attack Lion-O. The young lord however succeeds in summoning his friends using the Sword. Before the Mutants can grab the Sword, Panthro, WilyKit and WilyKat show up and send the Mutants packing. Inside Mumm-Ra's pyramid, the Mutants mock him and his abilities, resulting in an irate Mumm-Ra morphing into his terrifying Ever-living form. He then heads out to complete the task that the Mutants failed to miserably to do, obtain the Sword of Omens. As Lion-O delves deeper into the forest in search for Tygra and Cheetara, who strangely did not respond to the Sword's call, he encounters an odd body of water, full of tar-like, black ooze. Inserting his finger into the goop, Lion-O realizes that not only is it hot, it is also extremely sticky. At that instant, Mumm-Ra appears and lunges at Lion-O. In the ensuing battle, the Sword of Omens falls into the tar lake. Lion-O quickly pulls it out and shouts his summoning call but the Eye of Thundera, engulfed in the dense sticky tar, does not react. In a last desperate attempt to protect himself, Lion-O raises his Claw Shield in front of Mumm-Ra. When the villain sees his fiendish reflection in the shield's mirror-like surface, he is terrified and flies away. Attracted by the battle noises, the other ThunderCats arrive and Lion-O tells them about his encounter with this strange being who calls himself Mumm-Ra, the ever-living. Characters Vehicles Locations Trivia * This is the first episode in which Mumm-Ra's fear of his reflection is depicted. This weakness of his would be utilized again in numerous future episodes such as Snarf Takes Up The Challenge, Trapped, The Transfer, The Mumm-Ra Berbil, and Monkian's Bargain to name a few. * This is the first episode in which Mumm-Ra transforms into his Ever-living form. The animated sequence of his metamorphoses would be utilized numerous times in later episodes. * According to Tygra, Lion-O was inside the Suspension Capsule for a span of 10 galacto-years. It is never mentioned how many Third Earth years equal one galacto-year. * The strange fiery Ball of Light that the Mutants follow into Mumm-Ra's pyramid would appear again in the episode The Demolisher when Mumm-Ra uses it similarly to lead the titular character into his Black Pyramid. * When first broadcast, this episode was edited together with the pilot episode Exodus in order to produce a one hour long pilot. When "Exodus" was released on VHS, the first four episodes (Exodus, The Unholy Alliance, Berbils, and The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr) were edited together to produce a full length movie. * In the feature length movie, one scene from this episode is missing. It is a scene which shows the Mutants' first thoughts of Third Earth as they compare it to their own home. *No explanation is ever given for Tygra and Cheetara's failure to respond to Lion-O's call, despite them being at a vantage point high in the cliffs. Goofs * Near the end of the episode when Snarf is shown lying in the grass, his right ear vanishes briefly before reappearing again. * In the preceding episode, Exodus, Lion-O's outfit gets torn due to his unexpected growth within the Suspension Caspule. In this episode however, he is shown sporting a brand new outfit which is not torn at all. Notable quotes Snarf: Snarf! Nothing like Thundera, is it? Lion-O: Sure isn't, Snarf. Panthro: I'm pretty sure I can scrounge enough metal and equipment form the wreck to build us a ThunderTank. Jaga: The sword will never obey an order to destroy wantonly, Lion-O. Mumm-Ra: As long as evil exists, Mumm-Ra lives! Slithe: What manner of being are you? Mumm-Ra: You need only know that I am Mumm-Ra and that I know of your mission here on Third Earth. You seek to possess the Eye of Thunder. Slithe: You know of the Eye of Thundera? Yessss? Mumm-Ra: I have known of its power for a thousand years! From a time when this was still First Earth! Tygra: WilyKit, Kat, stop playing with your food. We'll eat after we unload the heavy gear. Home media This episode was released on the following home media: VHS * ThunderCats Vol.1: Exodus (Big Box) - f.h.e. release * ThunderCats Vol.1: Exodus - f.h.e. release * ThunderCats Vol. 2: Exodus - The Video Collection release DVD * Season 1 Volume 1 DVD * Season 1 DVD * Seasons 1 & 2 DVD Books Storybooks * The Mutants' Alliance (Tempo Books) * The Mutants' Alliance (Peter Pan) * Escape to Third Earth Comics Episode screenshots Unholy Alliance cap 1.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 2.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 3.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 4.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 5.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 6.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 7.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 8.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 9.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 10.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 12.jpg Unholy Alliance cap 11.jpg References *FLAVELL, J. (1968). The Development of Role-Taking and Communication Skills in Children. New York: J. Wiley. External Links *The Unholy Alliance on IMDb *ThunderCats 1985 cartoon series on Wikipedia *Dan Maruschak's Review of "The Unholy Alliance" Category:Thundercats: 1980s TV episodes Category:ThunderCats episodes written by Leonard Starr Category:Season 1 (ThunderCats 1980s)